The field of the invention is dosage reminder systems and the invention relates more particularly to a system for reminding a user when to take a specific pill.
There has been a long term trend of developing new drugs and nutritional supplements which have greatly improved the control of numerous diseases as well as improving the health of the user. There has also been a long term increase in life expectancy. This combination of trends has led to both a tendency to require the taking of more than one medicine by a patient as well as a tendency for the patient to be of advanced years and in need of assistance in remembering when a specific medicine is to be taken.
For instance, a patient with advanced asthma may often be required to take a decongestant on an empty stomach before breakfast, one or more once-a-day medicines at breakfast, a plurality of inhalers, some once a day, some three times a day, an antibiotic taken with meals, and a one-a-day medicine at bedtime. Many medical doctors find that their patients forget one or more of these regimens and, as a result, do not receive the benefit which is available to them.
Numerous pill dispensing systems have been devised in an effort to help patients with this problem. One such device is shown in the Hafner U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,189, which shows a device for the storage and time-regulated dispensing of drugs. Unfortunately, the device works only on a single drug. The device receives dosage information from the medicine container.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,503 to Robin shows a medication dose control system which has a housing with a central cylinder. The housing has a plurality of separate dispensing chambers. The system includes a central dispensing cylinder, including eight separate dispensing chambers which must be filled by the user. The user also has to manipulate the alarm setting means, as well as rotating the dispensing cylinder when an alarm has been sounded. Such steps are difficult for many users.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,915,558 to Girvetz shows a pillbox in the shape of a pager. It includes an alarm clock and an enclosed case which holds preferably a multi-compartment container. It has a display for displaying information such as the time, any alarm setting, and the pill to be taken when the alarm goes off. A plurality of buttons 32 are provided on the exterior of the device for entering information into the memory. In light of this, however, a relatively high amount of sophistication and patient care is required to properly program and use the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,225 to Powe shows a pill dispenser with a plurality of compartments, each having a pivoting lead. A light-emitting diode is positioned adjacent to each compartment. A clock and an alarm includes means for lighting one of the compartments at a time which is set by the user. The user is required to set the alarm via switch 28 and there is a separate alarm event for each pill compartment. Once again, a relatively high amount of sophistication and patient care is required to properly program and use the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,902 to Wu shows a medicine container which reminds the user of the time to take medicines, and includes a case having a plurality of compartments. The cover includes a plurality of keys for setting times of taking medicines as well as a display and sound generator for giving warning sounds when a medicine is to be taken. Once again, the user must be relatively sophisticated to program the device in a useful manner.
Thus, although there are many pill reminding systems, they all have two significant shortcomings. The first and most important shortcoming is that the user is required, with the exception of the Hafner device, to input dosage time information into the device. Inputting such information is often tedious, complicated and confusing, given the push-button means provided to accomplish this task. Secondly, since the dosage information inputting means are limited to a relatively small number of buttons, again with the exception of the Hafner device, the information which is outputted is very limited.
There is, thus, a need for a medicament dispensing reminder which need not be programmed by the user, but instead, can be programmed by a health professional, and which includes a reminder alarm, and is capable of displaying far more detailed information that is of help to the user. Preferably, for instance, a pharmacist would have a device which inputs data to the microprocessor in the reminder. Data may include, but is not limited to, time interval information, drug name information and even drug warning information, such as xe2x80x9ctake with meals.xe2x80x9d Since memory for the microprocessor and the reminder are relatively inexpensive, a great deal of important information may be inputted into the reminder. Furthermore, because the pharmacist can spread the cost over a large number of customers, a relatively sophisticated data inputting machine or computer is cost and task effective. Alternatively, in situations where the user may need to input drug information themselves, a computer program provided with the reminder or located online will tremendously simplify the task. In this respect, all the user would need to do is input the drug information into the computer program and download it into the reminder. Because both of these methods for inputting data require relatively little or no sophistication by the user, they significantly reduce the problems of programming associated with existing medicament dispensing systems, and thereby tremendously increase the utility of those devices.
The present invention is for a medicament dispensing reminder for assisting a patient to remember to take one or more medicaments at a preferred time. The reminder includes a case for supporting a microprocessor. The microprocessor has timing circuitry which includes a 24 hour clock and a memory module capable of receiving and sending medicament identifying indicia to an output port which may be connected to, for instance, a liquid crystal display screen. A data link interface is held by the case for receiving programming information for inputting medicament dosage times, conditions and name-identifying indicia for one or more time intervals for each successive 24 hour period. A warning indicator is held by the case which includes means to produce an output signal at a time when a particular medicament is to be taken. The case may also support one or more compartments for holding specific medicaments.